Carb counters...
I have, under direction of my doctor, begun the "South Beach Diet." Now, before you go nuts on me, let me explain. It isn't a fad diet like Atkins or Zone diets. It is truly sensible. The book actually teaches you how to eat the things you like, just in a more healthy and nutritionally beneficial way. It was created by Dr. Agatston, a cardiologist in Miami. It's his patients who actually named the diet the "South Beach Diet." Dr. Agatston and a nutritionist he knew through the hospital he practices at created the diet to help his cardiology patients lower their cholesterol, lose weight and in general improve their cardiovascular health.
I am in Phase One of the diet, which lasts for two weeks. This phase virtually eliminates all carbs so that your body can forget the bad habits it has created. Two weeks is also the amount of time studies show it takes to eliminate cravings. When I say virtually all carbs are removed, that means most, but not all. There is no bread, rice or pasta, not even fruit in this phase, but things like beans, which are high in dietary fiber and therefore carbs are permissible. I completed day four, of fourteen, today.
The diet touts that while on the restrictive first phase, you should lose somewhere between eight and fourteen pounds the first two weeks. This is the reason the Atkins diet is so popular... you lose a lot of weight quickly in the first two weeks. However, remaining virtually carb free for longer can prove to be unhealthy. In the past four days I've lost two pounds.
Here are some interesting things I've learned from the "South Beach Diet" book so far: if you eat a slice of white bread, you are better off to eat a teaspoon of table sugar. There is more sugar in beer than a slice of white bread. The sugar in beer comes from maltose. Natural peanut butter is good, JIF is bad. Only peanut butters where the oil separates from the peanut butter is good. This means it's all natural and hasn't had any bad fats or sugar added to it. Pizza is down, but not out. Opt for the thin-crust variety. Mozzarella is generally made with part skim-milk, making it one of the healthier cheeses out there. The tomatoes in the pizza sauce are rich in lycopene, thought to decrease the risk of cancer. Adding lots of fresh vegetables like bell peppers, mushrooms and onions will make it more filling, and also give you healthy carbs.
Whole wheat bread is not better than white bread. Whole GRAIN is. Generally, whole wheat bread is still made with refined flour. Refining strips the flour of it's beneficial fiber. Fiber helps slow the digestion of carbs, which in turn, slows the body's absorption of the sugar that results from those carbs. This gives you more time to burn it off before it goes unused and turns to fat. Unless you are referring to dairy or meet products, "low fat" is not necessarily better. When something is taken out, it has to be replaced. Generally, when fat is taken out, sugar is added in it's place. Fat is better than sugar. Especially those fats without trans fats, like olive, canola and peanut oils.
The All-American breakfast is in, but not the parts that you think. The bacon and eggs can stay, it's the toast, hashbrowns and orange juice that need to be eliminated. Bacon, when eaten in moderation, can actually provide your body with good cholesterol, as well as bad. Eggs are a fantastic source of natural vitamin E, and can also add good cholesterol. When drinking orange juice, you are taking the good out of the orange. True, oranges are a great source for vitamin C. But when you drink the orange, you are losing out on all the fiber the meat, or pulp, of the orange provides. This fiber helps slow the absorption of the fructose, or fruit sugar, the fruit contains as well. Fresh squeezed is better than what you'll find in a carton. Drinking a class of orange juice will result in your pancreas suddenly producing unhealthy amounts of insulin.
I have, under direction of my doctor, begun the "South Beach Diet." Now, before you go nuts on me, let me explain. It isn't a fad diet like Atkins or Zone diets. It is truly sensible. The book actually teaches you how to eat the things you like, just in a more healthy and nutritionally beneficial way. It was created by Dr. Agatston, a cardiologist in Miami. It's his patients who actually named the diet the "South Beach Diet." Dr. Agatston and a nutritionist he knew through the hospital he practices at created the diet to help his cardiology patients lower their cholesterol, lose weight and in general improve their cardiovascular health.
I am in Phase One of the diet, which lasts for two weeks. This phase virtually eliminates all carbs so that your body can forget the bad habits it has created. Two weeks is also the amount of time studies show it takes to eliminate cravings. When I say virtually all carbs are removed, that means most, but not all. There is no bread, rice or pasta, not even fruit in this phase, but things like beans, which are high in dietary fiber and therefore carbs are permissible. I completed day four, of fourteen, today.
The diet touts that while on the restrictive first phase, you should lose somewhere between eight and fourteen pounds the first two weeks. This is the reason the Atkins diet is so popular... you lose a lot of weight quickly in the first two weeks. However, remaining virtually carb free for longer can prove to be unhealthy. In the past four days I've lost two pounds.
Here are some interesting things I've learned from the "South Beach Diet" book so far: if you eat a slice of white bread, you are better off to eat a teaspoon of table sugar. There is more sugar in beer than a slice of white bread. The sugar in beer comes from maltose. Natural peanut butter is good, JIF is bad. Only peanut butters where the oil separates from the peanut butter is good. This means it's all natural and hasn't had any bad fats or sugar added to it. Pizza is down, but not out. Opt for the thin-crust variety. Mozzarella is generally made with part skim-milk, making it one of the healthier cheeses out there. The tomatoes in the pizza sauce are rich in lycopene, thought to decrease the risk of cancer. Adding lots of fresh vegetables like bell peppers, mushrooms and onions will make it more filling, and also give you healthy carbs.
Whole wheat bread is not better than white bread. Whole GRAIN is. Generally, whole wheat bread is still made with refined flour. Refining strips the flour of it's beneficial fiber. Fiber helps slow the digestion of carbs, which in turn, slows the body's absorption of the sugar that results from those carbs. This gives you more time to burn it off before it goes unused and turns to fat. Unless you are referring to dairy or meet products, "low fat" is not necessarily better. When something is taken out, it has to be replaced. Generally, when fat is taken out, sugar is added in it's place. Fat is better than sugar. Especially those fats without trans fats, like olive, canola and peanut oils.
The All-American breakfast is in, but not the parts that you think. The bacon and eggs can stay, it's the toast, hashbrowns and orange juice that need to be eliminated. Bacon, when eaten in moderation, can actually provide your body with good cholesterol, as well as bad. Eggs are a fantastic source of natural vitamin E, and can also add good cholesterol. When drinking orange juice, you are taking the good out of the orange. True, oranges are a great source for vitamin C. But when you drink the orange, you are losing out on all the fiber the meat, or pulp, of the orange provides. This fiber helps slow the absorption of the fructose, or fruit sugar, the fruit contains as well. Fresh squeezed is better than what you'll find in a carton. Drinking a class of orange juice will result in your pancreas suddenly producing unhealthy amounts of insulin.
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